Shooting Star
by kyeri
Summary: The battle with Ultimecia is finally over and the Garden is celebrating!  Currently a one-shot of my take on the party in the ending, contemplating on adding more to it.


Hi there guys! This is my first actual fanfic, let alone FF8 fanfic. At the current moment, it is only a one shot of the night of the party in the ending. I do plan on hopefully getting around to adding more and getting an actual story going on. :)

I hope I didn't screw up the personalities too badly - though I'm aware Squall is quite out of his 'normal' char, but after going through all that, you would assume a person would lighten up a light. Haha.

Reviews are well loved!

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><p>The music was upbeat and loud, the chattering for uniform clad SeeDs echoed off the walls of the large room. The formal party was for the defeat of Ultimecia, but the Garden's occupants had been celebrating the sorceress's fall since their Commander and his team returned. They had only returned the night before and the festivities had yet to stop. Among the sea of SeeDs were the Headmaster, his wife and the world's new heroes – who opted for their normal wardrobe over uniforms and party clothes.<p>

"Hey! Stop that!" A mouth full of food came out in spitting pieces as a blonde with spiked hair tossed a half-eaten hotdog bun at the brunette man with a ponytail. He stood feet away, chuckling with a small video camera in his hand and it was pointed at the blonde. Irvine did not move out of the way of said hotdog bun, for he was too busy laughing to move and the bread smacked him right in between the eyes. Zell had already begun to stomp off, so he lowered the camera and began to search the room.

"Now where'd she run off to with that..." he said to himself through his dying laughter. Though the crowd of SeeD uniforms, he found his hat first which led him down to the giggling brunette. She had followed a familiar fluffy dog to the door of the nearby balcony, but stopped with a large grin on her face.

"Irvy, Irvy!" She called out to him, pointing to the doorway. "Hurry, come get this!"

Boots quickly took him across the floor one by one until Irvine found himself standing next to Selphie. He then saw why she was over excited and rushing him there – she had found where their Commander and Rinoa had disappeared off to. He rose the video camera back up and focused on the raven haired girl that stood on the balcony. She turned with a large smile, rose a hand and pointed up – then the screen dimmed and a large white 'low battery' signal appeared in the middle. "Figures..."

The party could be heard through the opened door of the balcony, the muffled music and the mixture of voices. Squall had never been much for the parties and had whisked Rinoa out of the main room to get away from it. She was really the only one he cared to be with at the moment, but as Commander, he was expected to be there. Though he felt no one had a right to question their disappearance after he made his appearance. Commander, hero, or not.

Balamb Garden floated gracefully above the rushing water of the sea beneath them, the salty wind made raven tresses flow around the woman's pale face as her dark eyes were fixated on the clear starlit night sky. A streak of light suddenly shot through the sky and Rinoa's eyes lit up. A shooting star, just like the night they had met. It was that shooting star that night that led her to meet Squall for the first time. She smiled brightly, quickly turning to Squall who stood next to her, also watching the sky.

"Did you see it?" she asked softly, raising a hand for her finger to put up – as she had the night they met. The very sound of her voice curled a soft smile on chapped lips and when he turned to face her, his smile only widened. His smile took her breath away, and when he reached out to grab her lifted hand and pull her closer, she melted against him. His other arm slid around the small of back holding her close, her fingers tightly grabbing against the leather of his jacket.

There was no better time for this. Squall lowered his face to hers and pressed his lips gently against her own, which was greatly returned from her. This kiss she had been waiting on for a long time, this kiss she would have taken at some many times throughout their journey together had he not been so stubborn to see it. This kiss, however, was most definitely worth the wait. He pulled back from her slightly and gazed down into her dark eyes. Her lips mouthed his name and he offered another small smile, his hand gently running up her back and around so a figured could lightly stroke her flushing cheek. Rinoa suddenly wondered how he learned to turn her into complete mush.

"Rin, I..." he trailed off to the increase in volume of voices. Squall peeked curiously behind Rinoa and sighed at the sight of almost the entire party watching them in the door way, led by their friends and the Headmaster. Did they not realize he had brought her out here to be alone with her? They suddenly broke out into loud cheering and applause when they realized Squall had noticed them. Half embarrassed from the large amount of attention, he lowered his head against Rinoa's shoulder.

"Looks like they're missing you, Commander." She whispered jokingly to him before lightly kissing the lobe of his ear.

"Looks like," he said, annoyed at the interruption. He lifted his head from her shoulder and she slowly turned away from him to facing the group, grabbing a hold of his closest hand in hers. He squeezed her hand as she smiled and waved at the others with her free hand.

"Who knew you had it in you, Squall." An amused Quistis said, before taking a sip of the drink in her hand.

"Got it all on tape too," Irvine announced proudly with a chuckle. Rinoa could hear Squall grumbling next to her at Irvine as she led him by the hand towards the large group.

"Guys, if you don't mind, I think your Commander has more than earned a strong drink?" she asked loudly and the SeeDs began to scattered back about the room to enjoy the party some more.

"Yeah, here you go!" Zell popped up with a tall full drink in each hand, it seemed he had already been bringing them a drink to begin with. One was held out to Squall and one to Rinoa.

Rinoa accepted her drink much faster than Squall had – who was still over exhausted from the battle only a day prior he didn't even plan on drinking much that night. Though, by saying what she had, Rinoa did manage to get them out of being the main scene of the party. When Rinoa took her first sip, he finally took ahold of his offered glass silently.

"Tee-hee! I'm sorry," Selphie giggled as she leaned against Irvine's arm. "But it was so sweet, so romantic!"

"So unlike Squall." Quistis chimed in, still amazed at the changes this girl had made in him.

"… whatever." He said, finding another four voices to echo him. There was a moment of silence between them before they all burst into laughter.

Squall was unsure of how they had managed to keep him along with the group and drinking for the past three hours since his attempt to sneak away with Rinoa. She stood next to him laughing, face flushed, half hanging onto his arm with one hand, a drink in her other. She seemed to be enjoying herself and found that the more he had to drink, he actually began to enjoy himself as well. This was something he had never done at one of these SeeD parties.

"I think.. that I need another drink! Teehee!" Selphie giggled before skipping off towards the bar with an empty glass in hand.

"Oh, Sephy." Rinoa quickly down the last sip of the cream coloured liquid in her own glass as she released Squall's arm. "I'll come with yo—" As she went to follow after the yellow-clad brunette, she found black boots trip over themselves and she lost her balance.

While the glass slipped and found itself shattered against the glossed floor, Squall had caught Rinoa by her arm before she fell atop of it.

"Rin, are you alright?" Quistis asked her, keeling to collect the larger shards of the broken glass.

"Oh, well... I'm not sure what happened." She replied with a laugh.

"Come on, Rin." Squall told her quietly as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and shoved a half full glass of his own at Zell.

"Oh? It seems your Commander wishes to steal me for the night." Rinoa announced jokingly, leaning into him. Zell and Irvine grinned widely at Squall, laughing to each other before they saluted their commander off for the night. Quistis shook her head as she scooped the glass up into her empty cup.

"Thank you, Quistis." Squall said before leading Rinoa off toward the exit that led them toward the main halls.

The party did not seem to stop at that room, as they wondered through the halls, they passed by many others whom had left to do their own thing – drinking, a few couples making out, groups of students chatting randomly. A few noticed Squall and Rinoa and waved or saluted to the commander. One group offered them drinks, but Squall found a way to nicely decline and keep on their way to the dormitory halls.

Rinoa yawned as she nuzzled her head against the fur of his jacket, "I'm sorry, Squall. I think I drank too much."

"Maybe." He said, smiling down at her, "I was looking for an excuse to get you out of there anyways."

"You never were big for parties." She said, recounting the few other occasions. He just wasn't a people person, she didn't mind.

"Did you want to stay then?"

"I think I've had enough for tonight," Rinoa answered as they stopped in front of the door to his room. She turned and slid in front of him, sneaking fingers, hands and arms between the black leather of his jacket and the soft, white cotton of his shirt. "I'd much rather be right here."

One hand rose to run callused fingers through fine, dark strands. Her face was brightly flushed and though she looked exhausted and he knew she was half drunk, it was still face of his angel he gazed down upon. He leaned down, lips pressing down against hers for the second time that night – though there was a heart-racing passion he found within this one when he realized he had her back pressing against the door and he searched for the keys out of his pocket to open the door. He reluctantly pulled back from her as he fumbled the keys with his one hand until he had the correct one held and shoved into the key hole. She was softly giggling in his ear, her warm breath tickling and teasing the hair along his neck. With the door finally opened, he gently pushed her ahead of him, her walking backwards and still holding onto him.

"Rin," he began, throwing his keys onto the nearby desk and tightly wrapping his arm around her waist. They gazed longingly at each other, lost in each other's eyes in the silence for a few moments before he spoke, "I...I love you."

Her fingers stopped pulling at the bottom edge of his shirt and there was almost a look of surprise upon her face. Never had she once imagined he would tell her first or at all for that matter. She was unsure if it was the effects of the alcohol on the both of them – but was it? He had tried to say something before they had been interrupted by the audience of SeeD. She smiled gently at him, pulling a hand from beneath his jacket to his face, where soft fingertips traced along his cheeks.

"I love you." She returned quietly against his ear before moving and pushing lips up against his. The door was quiet pushed shut with a boot clad foot and locked with fingers that instantly found themselves in the girl's hair again.

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><p>Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VIII, it's characters, or SquareEnix.<p> 


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